Woven by Elle E. Ire

Author:Elle E. Ire [Ire, Elle E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-64405-447-5
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2020-07-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27: Vick—Mirror, Mirror

I am disturbed.

OF COURSE I can’t just go into stasis and catch up on the sleep I’ve lost, have a nice, peaceful, restful experience, wake up refreshed. No, that would be normal. By all accounts, most patients come out of stasis well-rested and not remembering anything from the time spent in the box.

Me? I dream. And I do it vividly.

My first sense is one of intense longing, so powerful it hurts like a gaping hole has been cut in the center of my chest. I’m both parched and starving, but not craving water and food.

I want Kelly. So painfully that I feel incomplete without her.

So I go find her.

One minute I’m in the stasis box, my sensory perceptions cut off from the rest of the world. The next, I’m moving along the transport’s central corridor, being pulled like a fish hooked on a line. Except I’m not struggling against it. I want to be caught.

I am cautious, though. I check my corners. I’m careful not to trigger any hatches into opening. I have the implants deactivate the security cameras, instead instructing them to show and record old footage of empty passageways, leaving no trace of my being there. It makes no sense. Why am I hiding? I’m part of this team. Am I worried they’ll be mad that I left stasis?

Which prompts the most important question. How did I get out of the box?

I’m able to rationalize the answer pretty easily. I didn’t get out. I’m still inside, dreaming. But it’s all so very real. And if it’s a dream, why am I sneaking around? Cameras aren’t going to record my dream self.

Regardless, I creep along until my implants inform me that I’ve reached the cabin Kelly and I had been sharing on our way out to the slave installation. Except I shouldn’t need that information. I already know this.

I step into the range of the hatch’s proximity detector, allowing this door to open. It slides aside, casting a swath of bright light across the metal flooring. The bunks remain in shadow on the left side, Kelly curled up, facing the wall, sound asleep.

And she’s beautiful, the way her thick blond hair flows across the blanket in soft waves, the curve of her body beneath the thin covering, the gentle sound of her breathing in the otherwise silent compartment.

I move to the side of her bunk. The hatch closes behind me, plunging the room into near darkness again, emergency lighting along the walls casting a faint glow throughout the small space. Closer now, I view her face in profile, the delicate slightly turned-up nose, the long lashes, the full lips.

I want… I don’t know what I want. But I’m incomplete. I have to make her mine, part of me, fill that hole that’s widening around my heart. And I don’t know how to do that.

Again, I’m struck by the inconsistencies. I already have her. She’s mine. We’re bonded by our empathic connection and by love. Kelly says

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.